Personal Skills Audit for Entry to the Accounting Profession
Personal Skills Audit for entry to the Accounting Profession – Written Assignment
There has been a significant shift in accounting profession from just providing numerical financial information to advising on a wide range of business matters - from profitability of developing a new line of products to E-commerce and investigating fraudulent activities.
There is a tendency to acknowledge the existence of hard and soft skills. The table (Appendix I) shows the spread of soft (non-technical) skills and values in different accounting specializations. Based on this table the conclusion would be that any specialization requires a great range of non-technical skills. Different areas require different levels of those skills.
My career goal is to get a job at a chartered accounting firm. To compete with others the firm must stand out from similar on the market. Profitability of the firm depends on network of clients, references from business partners, people/HR skills to build a right team, management skills to lead and motivate people, marketing skills, mentor skills to supervise juniors, learning skills to learn from mentors and climb the corporate ladder, analytical skills to interpret the information.
From the first interview to the job offer and/or promotion the most important would be communication skills.
Communication means passing on or sharing the information. It can be in a face-to-face discussion, by correspondence, over telephone, by radio, TV etc. Keys requirements to communicate successfully are:
• To be an effective speaker (logical, clear pronounced speech prepared for specific audience even if it is only one person)
• To understand human’s phycology (e.g. what motivates and interests audience)
• To understand the needs and background of another party (e.g. not to use accounting jargon for non-accountants)
• To be able to manage conflicts
• To understand cultural differences
• Constantly broaden the horizon, learn new information
• To be
There has been a significant shift in accounting profession from just providing numerical financial information to advising on a wide range of business matters - from profitability of developing a new line of products to E-commerce and investigating fraudulent activities.
There is a tendency to acknowledge the existence of hard and soft skills. The table (Appendix I) shows the spread of soft (non-technical) skills and values in different accounting specializations. Based on this table the conclusion would be that any specialization requires a great range of non-technical skills. Different areas require different levels of those skills.
My career goal is to get a job at a chartered accounting firm. To compete with others the firm must stand out from similar on the market. Profitability of the firm depends on network of clients, references from business partners, people/HR skills to build a right team, management skills to lead and motivate people, marketing skills, mentor skills to supervise juniors, learning skills to learn from mentors and climb the corporate ladder, analytical skills to interpret the information.
From the first interview to the job offer and/or promotion the most important would be communication skills.
Communication means passing on or sharing the information. It can be in a face-to-face discussion, by correspondence, over telephone, by radio, TV etc. Keys requirements to communicate successfully are:
• To be an effective speaker (logical, clear pronounced speech prepared for specific audience even if it is only one person)
• To understand human’s phycology (e.g. what motivates and interests audience)
• To understand the needs and background of another party (e.g. not to use accounting jargon for non-accountants)
• To be able to manage conflicts
• To understand cultural differences
• Constantly broaden the horizon, learn new information
• To be